Friday, November 30, 2007

Tomorrow we are heading out early in the morning to get a Christmas tree. Every year we do this with my best friend, Susie, her husband and their boys. This is the first time in three years that no one will be pregnant, though. It is technically my turn to be with child. Don't know why I thought I needed to mention that....but there you go. So this year we will also go with Susie's two sisters and brother-in-law. We usually go to a tree farm not too far from where we live, but this time we are buying a permit to go and cut a tree in the woods---with snow, no less. It is about an hour and a half away and then we will need to do some hiking and some, very mandatory, frolicking in the snow.

If you happen to hear on the news about the fat woman lost in the woods of Oregon...just know that I will miss each and everyone of you. If not, then I will be back with pictures and a new weight update vlog at the beginning of the week. Happy December...

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

~update below~I felt very smug the day that my son drew a sweet picture of his sister.Very smug, indeed.After all, it is due to my skills as a mother that they have such a wonderful bond, right?

Notice the hearts that he put on her picture.He just loves her so much.I wanted to show this picture to Edgard when he got home, so I made sure to put the notebook in a spot where I could remember it. I also marked the page so that it would be easy to find again. At some point, though, Anthony found the notebook, removed the bookmark, and allowed the deep abyss we call his room, to swallow it whole. So fast forward to when Edgard got home and went searching for the notebook. I found it rather quickly and set about to show Edgard the lovely picture. After a long day with no adult interaction, I was ready to hear what a great mom I was.

Then I saw it:

...this is quite a way in which to burst a bubble...a smug mommy bubble.

Update:

Hey everybody :)

I solved the mystery of why he drew this. This is a picture of "mean mom" in a trap. When I asked what the things were, drawn beside me, he said it was a spoon and a cereal box. It all came rushing back. This occurred when the kids were hiding from me. I was trying to scare them (for fun, people) and my growling was not doing it anymore. They were getting too brave, venturing too close. So I grabbed a spoon and an empty cereal box and would bang on it whenever they came within range. They would scream and giggle all the way back to my bedroom. That stopped working too, eventually, but man it was an inspiration! Have you ever banged a wooden spoon on an empty cereal box? Try it, it is really loud. Anyway---apparently Anthony had to commemorate the moment forever---hence the drawing. So, thankfully, I am not too terribly "meen".Or am I....??? Wa ha ha ha

Monday, November 26, 2007

Firstly I want to thanks you all for sticking with me during my blogging dry spell. I also appreciate your comments more than you know.Now onto the horrid youtube vlog update. If you notice, I ended up getting a better spot to film in. Much better lighting...sorry to all you folks who now have to look at me. Here I am in all my dweebocity.

Monday, November 19, 2007

I am back. Not quite full force, though. I found myself stretched too thin, so I am instituting some changes. I love reading blogs. This is what prompted me to start my own in the first place. Well, that and the fact that I think out my life in written form--I always have. We bloggers are crazy like that. Anyhoo---I love reading blogs but I stopped a few days a go because I felt completely overwhelmed. Not only am I a wife and mother of two, but I am also a homeschool teacher to my son and primary housekeeper here at the ranch. So my computer time is limited. I found that I was spending so much time writing comments on other blogs that I was losing a lot of the time that I had to write my own. So, I am cutting waaaayyy back on my commenting. Please don't feel as if I am disappearing altogether, I am still there reading just the same. If you look at my blogroll, it is a long one. It is not reciprocal---I read every single one. I just realized that I am not able to read and comment as much as I was doing. I will now choose my words carefully and comment when I really feel as if I had something to say. I hope that you don't mind, and that you all know that I am still there and interested in all you have to say.I have also started fresh yesterday on a new campaign to eat healthfully and exercise. I have also decided to vlog it. So, I will let the video me, tell you. Sorry about how dark it is---although, I have to say it is kind of nice to have the shadow hiding my blubber. But then, how could I capture the weight changes in my face? I will start scouting for a place with better lighting for next weeks vlog.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

I have taken a mental vacation, without telling anyone. I even took it without telling myself. I hate it when that happens. For some reason, this week, I have barely sat down at the computer. I didn't want you all to wonder about me, though. So I am writing this little note to tell you, I am extending my vacation until Monday. With maybe another book love weekend thrown in. I hope you don't mind my absence and I hope you don't leave me.

Don't leave me! If that sounded like shameless begging, rest assured, it was.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Saturday, November 10, 2007

For the first time in my (blog) life, I am entering a contest. Well, for the first time if you don't count the time that I put in the comment section of a blog "pick me, pick me". I lost that one, though, so I am pretending it didn't happen. So, as I said, I am entering a blog contest, first time ever, blah blah, blah. I found this particular contest via pinks and blues girls. It is a "hippie" photo contest, being held at slurping life. In a nutshell they want to see non typical photography. Instead of flouting the conventions of society...we are to flout the rules and conventions of photography.

No problem there.

I have never followed rules of photography since I picked up my first camera. And I don't mean in a talented or an edgy famous photographer kind of way. I mean, in an oops, did I not take the lens cap off, could this be any blurrier, kind of way. So in the photo that I am entering, I was playing with the kids on the newly cut lawn, as Edgard was taking a little water break. I had the camera in my hand and I ended up falling. Yes...I am really clumsy. Yet for all its mistakes, I liked how I really caught the action (action=falling doofus) in this shot, with Edgard framed in the doorway, the sky, and all of the rest. I especially like my tattoo. I can't count how many times I go out in public and forget that my son, Anthony, the artist, has drawn on me. This is so completely a still frame in my life.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Upon coming back into to work one day...my husband found his company picture with a few...ummm...shall we say, revisions?

Now before anyone freaks out and gets all touchy...the Mexican involved in this incident was 100% okay with everything. He shares much love with his white compadres. Please don't send me any politically correct e-mails. Or do...I need humorous filler for the blog.....

I figured that since other people were pretty much done with showing their children in halloween costumes*, I will now post mine. Though, I have an unfair advantage...I am now competing with no other kids in costumes...mine are the cutest by default!!!

As you can see, Irene is thrilled by this whole process.

...and getting more thrilled by the minute.

I am so glad that Edgard makes sure his purse is coordinated with his outfit!

My two little pests. The beetle and the ladybug. My best friend's sister Julie pointed out that we should have dressed as exterminators.

Yep...we make them exercise all the halloween candy off before they even eat it!*here is the exception to the "no other kids in halloween costumes" But he is in a contest so it is a totally different thing. p.s. J.J. needs your vote.

Monday, November 5, 2007

I have no idea how I do it. One moment I am ready to throw in the towel and am feeling utterly hopeless----the next moment I am able and willing to tackle whatever comes my way. What is wrong with me??? Or, what is right with me. I hate that I get completely despondent but then I always surprise myself that I bounce right back. So I guess I am thankful that I can't ever seem to get too beaten down. My husband and I talked this weekend about our goals and what we hope to accomplish. Unfortunately, some of the steps will be backwards so that we can regain some of the ground that we lost, but then, it is moving forward from there on in. Of course, weight came into that, and I can see that my weight and our debt is very interconnected. We are both very much instant gratification people. We need to learn to be delayed gratification people. Very hard to relearn a personality trait, but we need to, for the sake of our future and our children's future. We are off to a good start with some changes that we have already implemented. Relating to my ever present weight issue, I am still active in my goal with Mamacita Chilena. I also have a personal goal myself. I promise myself, that once I get below a certain number, I will do my hardest to never be that number again. Right now I am 188.5 so that means that I commit to myself to never go to 190, again. I am very close to 190 at this point so you are probably wondering about normal fluctuations that may put me over that number once again and what do I plan to do about that? If I am at 190 due to fluctuations or simply overeating, I will know the difference. If it is normal fluctuations, all is well, I won't be too hard on myself. If I have overeaten, I will try harder. My goal right now, is to put as much distance between my current weight and 190 so that it will be harder to do either. By the way, Mamacita Chilena has started a new diet/fitness/health/celebrity blog for any of you who are interested. You can find her in my blogroll under The Skinny in Chile, or here is the web address: http://theskinnyinchile.blogspot.com/.

So now, I am signing off to get on with my glamorous life, in which I am about to scrub a toilet---this is the sole time I am thankful that I only have one bathroom. After that job is done, I will clean the rest of the bathroom, throw out some seldom used toiletries, and reorganize all bathroom cupboards. weeeeee.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Friday, November 2, 2007

What with one thing and another... I have been having one of those days. Too many children saying no and rolling their eyes at me. Too many requests for halloween candy after I have answered no. Too many crumbs on the floor for breakfast. More for lunch, as well. A room that has been trashed and a boy who thinks it is an outrage that his mother has the audacity to ask him to clean it. A spoiled diet, coupled with no exercise. A viscous head cold. Yes I meant viscous (viscous: a material that is thick; resistant to flow.) and not vicious...although vicious is an apt word for what I have, as well. So of course, being mother of the year, I took out all this frustration on my children by yelling.

So now I can add to the list of frustrations: lame mom yells at kids.

Now add guilt.

I just need to say, in no way do I think yelling is the answer but, I do like the results.Not one request for halloween candy has been attempted. Rather than rolled eyes or a flat out refusal, the kids are saying yes mommy...whatever you want mommy....your wish is our command mommy. I apologized and told them that I loved them and the same was reciprocated. Imagine my pleasure---and my mommy guilt---when I found this.